I have called the state's contractor via staff and my office numerous times about the issue--however the problem remains a chronic one.
Several local groups are now voluntarily going out and picking up trash along the roads adjacent to their subdivisions. I have spoken with county administration and we will provide bags and rubbish "grabbers" for folks willing to do this. Just contact my office at 850-595-4910 and I will get your contact information to the appropriate staff personnel who can provide these items.
But it is a sad commentary on our area that this continues to be a chronic problem.
I walked the southern side of 9-Mile road from Beulah Road to the I-10 onramp at exit 5. What I saw was disgusting. I filmed what I saw on a Facebook Live video along part of the route. From an email I sent this morning to staff and the state's rubbish collection contractor, Ferrovial Services, this morning:
..on yesterday’s walk I saw full bags of garbage, more than
100 plastic bottles, fast food bags/cups, cardboard, pizza boxes, and beer/soda
cans lining the south portion of the roadway by the sidewalk and in the
culverts. I also saw a couch and mattress dumped over the bridge to the
banks of the 11 mile creek below. Additionally—it appears as someone has
also thrown large piece of wooden cabinet into the creek. (The north side of
the road, directly adjacent to Navy Federal Credit Union’s campus, did not
appear to have the same problem and looked clean. I’m assuming they have
their own crews cleaning their side?)
- How frequently your
crews clean trash along 9-Mile Road, Mobile Highway, Blue Angel Parkway,
and Sorrento Road? (primary D1 roadways the state maintains)
- Are you the appropriate
person/entity to contact for this issue?
- Are the mowing crews
also under your contract? (I ask because I saw numerous examples of
boxes/plastics/signs that appeared to have been “run over” by the mower
instead of simply picked up. This results in “confetti” of trash all
over the area which looks even worse.)
- How soon can your teams
of employees clean this area of 9-Mile road specifically?
It's awful on the Baars Bridge too. Not just trash but the weeds and growth are 6 feet tall, and make turning onto an already very busy road problematic. Such blight and negelct for a part of the county that generates much revenue. It's been unattended for so long that it's going to require a backhoe to get the growth out. I've asked before, but how do we ask for expedient attention to these matters?
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, one of the key's power lines has been drooping into the middle of the road, on Gongora as soon as you arrive on the key, it comes close to hitting the tops of vans. It's been like that for months. The solution wasn't to tighten it, it was to wrap it in metal wire, creating two dropping areas. Now it's got an orange extension cord dangling from the power line in some sort of inexplicable stop-gap fix.
Know it's a different organization, but the incidence of neglect represents two sides of the same coin for the area. Half-assery. Most of the fixes on Sorrento are half-assery. Potholes fixed but the uneven payment that remains creates a renumerant problem.